Matthew Symonds

Posted 10.08.2017 @ 1.44PM

SEO is much more than gaming Google these days, so I'd definitely recommend at least hiring a professional to get you started and on the right path - perhaps just for an initial six month engagement. (Improving the rank of your site organically is a long term 6-12 month process usually) If you need an instant boost, consider Google Adwords / Facebook Marketing which also have benefits when it comes to defining your audience and contributing to long term SEO goals.

If you do decide to look at the SEO of your site by yourself, you will need to:

Learn how to research what keywords / phrases that people are using to search for the product or service that you provide.

Learn how best to create great content that matches the most popular search terms (and niche search terms if you think there is an opportunity). Then be in a position to create content that is both compelling to humans while also meeting Google's requirements to rank well.

You'll need to get familiar with Google Analytics in order to be able to track the success of your content over time and make adjustments frequently. It also helps to understand the Google Adwords platform as a great deal of insight can be gained from creating optimised ads that then give you valuable information to use in long term SEO.

Just my two cents... I'd hire a pro if you want to get real momentum and traffic to your site.

Posted 10.08.2017 @ 12.03PM

Yeah, the agency I work for already do a fair bit of brand and packaging work for this client so I'm sure there will be an ongoing relationship. This just really frustrated me however since they actually called us in to discuss making a new site since their existing one is poor and does not contribute towards brand building or lead generation in any way.

After spending a fair bit of time talking with them about digital marketing opportunities and how the website would be part of a broader strategy they seemed very keen. I know that my quote fell within their (very small) budget as well, so it's just weird that they think an unqualified operations manager will be able to move the needle for their business.

Ahh well, I'll see where it goes and be ready to step in and pick up the pieces later.

Posted 09.08.2017 @ 2.07PM

Hi Matt

Thank you for the email. At this stage, I will hold off getting you to develop the website, as our new operations manager is quite handy at building websites, and has spare hours in her week between her other responsibilities where she will work with me (teach me) how to build the website etc. Obviously you can appreciate this is the most effective use of her time and salary for our business.

Thank you for your time around this, and no doubt we will talk further re other matters in the future.

Posted 24.06.2015 @ 2.41PM

I'm from the UK now working in Australia for the last three years, and while my experience has been that sometimes attitudes can be a bit behind the times here, I really am surprised that somebody would openly make these sorts of statements in an open email regardless of their personal feelings.

If that's what was said by an employee of the company I would seriously think about making this known to the owners as that kind of behaviour has no place in our industry.

I'm working in Brisbane, and the office I work in has pretty much zero diversity, it's all 20 something white blokes, which I find really limiting for a whole host of reasons. I think the industry needs to change - but it's not you that needs to change.

Posted 13.02.2015 @ 3.17PM

Good on you for getting out and not feeling as if you had to accept this companies shitty status quo. You'll be able to look back in years to come and see this as one of the best career moves you made.